Rowing Adds New Assistant Coach

Jake Hatch

Sept. 8, 2008

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee women's rowing team and Head Coach Lisa Glenn announce the hiring of Jake Hatch as an assistant coach with the program. Hatch, who comes to Knoxville from Purdue University, will take over as the head instructor for the novice team at UT.

"I'm really excited to have Jake join us this year," Glenn said. "One of the reasons that I hired him is that he has proven that he can recruit on campus and develop his team into a successful program."

Hatch will serve as the coordinator of the Tennessee novice program, taking charge of the recruitment, training and retention of student-athletes with little or no rowing experience. The Purdue graduate brings significant experience in training novice athletes to the Lady Vol staff, having worked as a coach and recruiter at the college and club levels for the past six years.

"More success on the novice side of the program is critical for our overall program success," Glenn said. "There's no question in my mind that shoring up the underpinnings of our program is a major focus for us right now. I think that Jake is the one to help us do that."

Hatch joins the Lady Vols after spending four years as the head women's rowing coach at Purdue. While at the helm of the club program, Hatch was responsible for recruiting, supervising three assistant coaches and coaching nearly 100 female student-athletes. Under Hatch's guidance, the Boilermakers took home the 2008 SIRA Regatta overall and Varsity 8+ championships and collected the 2008 Dad Vail Regatta 2V8+ title.

During Hatch's time as head coach, the Purdue squad secured at least one event crown at each Dad Vail event. Dad Vail is the world's largest collegiate regatta, featuring over 100 universities and colleges in the U.S. and Canada and held every year on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pa. The team marked a banner year at the Dad Vail in 2007, taking both the V8+ and Freshman 4+ titles.

"The Purdue University club women were the most successful club in the country," Glenn said. "What I'm hiring Jake to do is develop walk-ons from our campus. That is something he has shown that he can do."

Before working at Purdue, Hatch served as a coach with the River City Rowing Club in West Sacramento, Calif., from 2002-04. At River City, Hatch worked with the masters and summer rowing programs, leading the 2004 women's masters 8+ shell to a third-place finish at the San Diego Crew Classic. In January 2002, Hatch was named the varsity boys coach for River City's juniors program. In that position, he gained experience recruiting at Sacramento-area middle schools and prepared the athletes for the collegiate rowing experience.

As a rower at Purdue (1995-99), Hatch was named the squad's most valuable oarsman for the 1997-98 season. Hatch also served as the club officer responsible for equipment transportation. Hatch started his rowing career at Culver Military Academy, working his way from a novice to becoming a senior captain and recipient of the Gordon Graper Rowing Award.

In 2000, Hatch earned his bachelor's degree in building construction management from Purdue. He also holds a USRowing Level III certification. Before and during his time as a club coach, Hatch worked as an assistant project manager for Advanced Technology Group in Portland, Ore., and as a project engineer for Mass Electric Construction Company in Sacramento.